Quakers -- New York (State)

Letters, articles, and speeches by Linda Chidsey, former Clerk of New York Yearly Meeting and acknowledged minister. Of special interest are the materials that relate to the peace testimony after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and renewal in the Society of Friends.

Contains an accounting of funds raised for the War Victims Fund by members of New York Yearly Meeting (Orthodox), 1870-1871, together with cover letters for contributions made to the Fund.

The bulk of the collection is epistles, sorted roughly by topic. William Wood, the Clerk of New York Yearly Meeting who arranged the collection, was particularly interested in the issues of slavery, freedmen, peace testimony, and religious education. Also included are correspondence, Quaker documents, and miscellaneous papers. Correspondents include Moses Brown, William Rickman, John Pemberton.

This collection contains a map of all the Meetings belonging to [New] York Yearly Meeting. The first known Quaker meeting in New York took place in Manhattan, 1671. The New York Yearly Meeting held their first meeting in 1696 after setting up at the New England Yearly Meeting in 1695.

The New York Friends Service Committee was established in 1917 following an appeal by New York Yearly Meeting to assist the American Friends Service Committee in its clothing appeal for European war relief. By 1922, the focus had changed to famine relief particularly for Russia, and the Committee was encouraged to work directly through AFSC. This small collection contains minutes, annual reports, and financial records.

Contains a collection of autographs of prominent Quakers and a few non-Quakers, most written as brief notes or subscription replies to Friends Book and Tract Committee between 1915-1920.

Contains a document listing the Sufferings of Friends belonging to Flushing Monthly Meeting given to the Committee appointed to inspect the Sufferings of Friends, 1782. Also, accounts submitted by individuals and related epistles, 1775 and 1778, from London and Philadelphia Yearly Meetings.

Contains five letters from Quaker educator Joseph Talcot, including one to New York Yearly Meeting for Sufferings and four to Samuel Parsons (1744-1841), long-time elder and clerk of New York Yearly Meeting. The letters deal with concerns of the Meeting for Suffering and providing literature to Friends in remote quarterly meetings.

Contains research, drafts and correspondence collected by Alson D. Van Wagner concerning two New York Yearly Meeting publications, Quaker Crosscurrents: Three Hundred Years of Friends in the New York Yearly Meeting, published in 1995, and New York Yearly Meeting Directory 1993. Of particular interest is the research done on identifying New York Yearly Meeting women ministers.

Grace Tower Warren (later Sturge), served as Secretary for New York Yearly Meeting 1923-1926. These photographs document the meeting houses in New York and Warren's travel during her term as Secretary of NYYM. There is an accompanying diary of her travels.